October Maiko Week
by Lothlorienx
Summary: [First published on Tumblr] Seven pieces honoring the ship that is Maiko. Mai x Zuko: sexy, dramatic, pragmatic.
1. Lanterns

**Lanterns**

 **Day 1: October 11**

The light was slowly starting to die, the orange dulling as the dark crowded around the flame. Mai held the flame up to her eyes, observing the wavering fire as each breath of air, each blow of the wind, threatened to kill it.

"This lantern is about to die at any time," Mai told him, turning around to look at him. Zuko didn't look at her, but instead dropped his head down to look at the ground.

A sigh escaped him.

Mai put a hand out, meaning to put in on his shoulder. She moved closer to him, until her fingers stroked across the fabric of his clothes.

"Just when I try being romantic," he said, with a small chuckle. Mai didn't laugh. Instead, she said, "I didn't know that this was supposed to be a romantic occasion."

She placed the lantern back down into the fountain, letting the soft currents of the water carry the glowing flame away from them both. Zuko had lit and then relit all the candles, but they were still going out. Either snuffed out by the breeze or dying due to lack of fuel. Whatever it was, the night was creeping in around them, dark and beautiful.

Mai secretly hoped that they would die out, if only for the stars to shine. She locked her gaze on the ripples in the water, and the soft orange glow that scattered across the liquid surface.

Zuko looped an arm around her waist, and pulled her in close to him. Now, he did look at her face. "Every moment with you is an opportunity to be romantic," he said with a grin."

Mai gave him a playful smack. "You're such a nerd," she told him. Her voice remained monotone, but she couldn't stop a small smile from creeping across her face when Zuko chuckled and gave her a coy grin. Turning her eyes back to the candlelight drifting across the water, she added, "It is beautiful though."

"I hoped you'd like it," he replied.

Still a nerd, Mai thought, but she found that she didn't mind.

Zuko watched the wavering candlelight for only a second before he turned back to face Mai, who still watched the scene serenely.

"Mai," he called her name softly, and she turned to look at him. The golden hues hidden within her brown eyes was gleaming brightly in the dying light of the lanterns.

He said nothing more, but pressed a kiss to her lips. Mai's hand came to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss between them. It was slow and hot, drawn out to the very last breath they had within them, until they had to break apart to inhale.

"Perfect," Zuko whispered, though Mai thought that it was a slip of the tongue instead of something he'd actually meant to say aloud.

"Yeah," Mai responded, "it kinda is."

She pulled him into another kiss, one longer than the last. It was deep and passionate, pulling their two souls together and intertwining their heartstrings. In the dying light of the lanterns, they could have spent all night.

Or at least until the final flame flickered out, the lanterns had all died away for good, and they were left in the dark alone.


	2. Facade

**Facade**

 **Day 2: October 12**

There were cracks in the mask, that sometimes formed during the day. Cracks in his facade as the noble Fire Lord, true and honest and healing. Healing the world from a century long war.

Sometimes, he didn't think about the work before him, when there was work to be done. Sometimes, he didn't listen when the meetings droned on and on in the throne room, or when the nobles flooded the palace during galas.

Sometimes, when he was supposed to be focusing, all he could focus on was Mai, sometimes sitting right next to him, sometimes across the room, sometimes miles away from him. He could almost feel her, though she was not touching him.

Behind the mask he wore for the public, he thought private things.

Of Mai's hair spilled on the pillowcase beneath her while she moaned. Of him kissing down her neck, his tongue flicking gently at her skin, before he nipped at one of her nipples. Of his name being chanted on her tongue as she neared climax, her back arching and her words slurring together to make the most beautiful music.

He could see it now; Mai's thighs wet as his fingers slid between her legs, rubbing at her clit while he bit and kissed at her shoulder, her hair tangled and smelling of jasmine and musk. She would moan was pleasure coursed through her, sparks of white-hot fire in her veins, and her hips would writhe, grinding her body back up against him, stroking his growing erection that he longed to...

"Fire Lord Zuko," came a loud voice, cutting straight into his thoughts. He looked up, seeing the face of the palace envoy standing near the threshold, waiting to be ushered in. Zuko waved at him, and he strolled in, standing next to the company that was gathered around him.

"What is it?" he asked the young envoy.

"News from the Western Province," the boy said, and held out a rolled up scroll for Zuko to grab. It was stamped with a noble seal, one that he was supposed to recognize, but didn't. Another part of the facade he wore; he wasn't completely sure what he was doing.

He was sometimes sure that he would fail.

But then his thoughts would drift back to Mai. He would think on her words, her encouragement. How she didn't have a single doubt within her mind that he would be a good Fire Lord, that he would lead this nation to prosperity, and restore the damage done unto it.

"Thanks," Zuko said, and waved him away.

Get lost, Zuko thought to himself, as the door closed behind the leaving figure. But he couldn't say it aloud, or even think it hard enough. He was in the presence of company; of regal and important company.

He had to maintain the facade.


	3. Disclosure

**Disclosure**

 **Dar 3: October 13**

"Your Highness," Mai heard someone whisper to her. She turned to face them only after she felt someone pressing a piece of paper into her hand.

She saw their face, hidden under the hood of a cloak, and they walked away from her. She let them, figuring their was no harm to any of them. Mai looked down at the folded up piece of paper crumpled into her hand, debating on whether or not to look at it.

But not here, she knew.

It was only after she was alone, with the door closed behind her, that Mai unrolled the scroll in her hand. The words were all scrawled in dark black ink that had been smudged. Mai could tell just by looking at the penmanship that it had been written up hastily.

Her eyes scanned the paper quickly as she read what was written on it. Her eyes widened when she got to the end of the parchment.

"No," she said, horrorstricken. "No."

She ran a hand through her hair, hearing the strands untangling when she neared the tips. Mai rolled the scroll back up, storing it away safely within the the long vest that she wore, and struggled to regain herself.

A minute ticked by.

Then two.

Then three.

Mai flung the door back open, making her way quickly through the labyrinth of palace hallways until she found Zuko. Right where she knew he would be. In the office chambers, reading through documents that requested royal approval.

"Mai!" Zuko said happily when he saw her walk in.

She didn't return his smile. Instead, she cut right to the chase, bringing out the scroll from her vest and holding it out for him to see. Zuko's smile faded when he realized what she held in front of him. His mouth parted, as though he was about to say something, but he closed it again. No words came to mind. None that would make it better.

He couldn't say, Let me explain, because there was nothing to explain.

"You're letting him walk free," Mai said. It wasn't a question. "That much I can understand. He is still your…what I don't understand is why you've been going to him for advice."

Mai's normally monotone voice was starting to have emotion bleed into it. Zuko knew how shocked she must have been. Mai was rarely, if ever, emotional, but now it bled from her like she had been cut.

"Well…you know…they say all advice has some merit," he tried. But it came out feebly. It was a horrible excuse, and he knew it.

"Why him? Why ask him questions like–" she held up the letter again, "–this?"

Zuko could only shrug and hang his head.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't be sorry," Mai told him. "I don't want your regret." She took a few steps forward, and seated herself in front of him. Zuko's head still hung low, and his hands were clasped together in front of him. "He's manipulating you," Mai stated bluntly.

"I know."

Pause. Mai said nothing as she waited for him to say or do something. But he said nothing; did nothing. Perhaps he was waiting for her, waiting for her approval or her anger or her pity. But he got none of it.

Instead,

"You…wanna talk about it?" Mai asked him, a bit uneasily. Emotional conversations wasn't her strong suit, but she was still willing to listen. Anything to tear him free from the downward spiral that she suddenly saw. It had been there for so long; how did she not notice until now?

"Do I have to?" Zuko asked.

Mai shook her head, no.

Zuko thought for a while before he decided to give in, and told Mai everything. Everything he needed to talk about, he wanted to say, all his confusion. And Mai listened.


	4. Ghosts

**Ghosts**

 **Day 4: October 14**

"You should have protected me," came an echoing voice.

Zuko looked around blindly for the source, but all he could see were darkened stones in a never-ending tunnel. He became frantic, turning this way and that, searching for something other than the open air and the dirt beneath his feet.

"You should have stayed," came the same echoing voice again.

Zuko swiveled around, looking behind him. He thought he saw a light, somewhere deep in the darkness, and he believed himself. Believed his lying eyes to take him towards the light. His feet moved under him, and he walked towards the point of white, small in the darkness. He kept walking, faster and faster, until he broke out in a run.

He heard the eerie, unearthly voice reverberate through the tunnel, talking to him and only him. "You should have stopped. You should have stayed. You should have kept quiet."

The ethereal voice kept telling him all his should haves.

They plagued Zuko, each word cutting straight into his heart. His heartbeat was rapid in his chest, but not because he ran, but because he was scared. But still, he ran towards the ghostly echo in the tunnel, instead of away from it. He knew that this was something that he needed to do.

Should do.

"You should have kept quiet!" the voice kept repeating to him. "You should have stayed. You should have stayed!" The ghostly voice was filled with agony, undeniable in the way that it caved in around him.

"Please," Zuko tried to scream out. His hand reached in front of him, but for nothing. "Please," he repeated, but his voice had no sound. So he only mouthed the word, Please, again and again.

"You shouldn't have gone away." So much agony, and Zuko only wanted to reach the source and make it end, to make all the strife and sorrow dissipate.

"Why did you leave me?" the voice now questioned.

Zuko knew tears had formed at his eyes, but he didn't feel them. What little bit of vision he had left in the never-ending darkened corridor became blurry. But it didn't matter; he only had one place to go, and that was forwards. But the voice kept seeming farther and farther with each step, and yet the questions thundered in his ears.

"Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me?" the ghost ahead of him asked. Nonstop, until the words became like the very air itself. Why, why, why…?

Zuko's heart was racing, and he found his legs slowing beneath him, though he still tried to run as fast as he could. But the ground would no longer move underneath him, and fatigue creeping into his bones, seeping into his blood. He was tired, and he stumbled and fell hard upon the ground.

He curled up into a ball, his hands pressed to his ears, just trying to make it stop.

Fortunately, it did.

Zuko's hands came away from his ears, and he opened his eyes. Looking above him, he saw a colorless, transparent Mai floating above him. Her eyes were hard, her brow furrowed with anger, and her mouth was in a scowl. But he had another face, that he could see, just past the mask of her anger. One of loneliness, betrayal, and pain.

"Why did you leave?" her ghost asked him. "Why did you leave?"

"I'm sorry," Zuko tried to say, but his words still had no sound. He knew that they never would in this place, no matter where he ran to. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just had to do this."

"Why?" Mai's ghost asked him, reverberating off of the walls, chilling his blood. "You betrayed your country."

"I'm trying to help it!" Zuko said desperately. "Please understand!" Tears started streaking down his face, but he knew it was only because of how futile his efforts were. He couldn't explain it to her, not like this. Not when she was a specter in his dreams.

"Don't come back," Mai's ghost said, and disappeared inside the tunnel, leaving him alone in the damp, chilling darkness.

The horror was so great within him, a pressure building in his chest until it felt like his lungs would burst and his heart would stop and his ribs would crack. Don't say that,he thought. Don't say that. Eventually, the horror was so great within him that he was ripped away from the dark tunnel, ripped away from all that had just happened, and was awake again, cold sweat clinging to his skin.

"Mai," he whispered, leaning up on his bed. "Mai."


	5. Reunion

**Reunion**

 **Day 5: October 15**

"Welcome home, my prince."

Zuko let out a deep moan as Mai's nails scratched at his bare skin, making their way down his pecs and to his stomach. Her touch left stands of fire coiling around inside of him, his nerves burning.

"Good to be back," he hissed.

His head tilted back and another moan was pulled from his lips as Mai's hands dropped lower, near the waistband of his pants, all while letting her nails drag over his skin. It hurt where her nails had ripped at him, but it left the most delicious ache on his skin.

Mai said nothing. but kissed his shoulder as she continued to let her hands explore him. Zuko closed his eyes, trying to contain the licks of fire that begged to escape his hands, his feet, his mouth. But when Mai's hand slipped beneath the fabric of his pants, and he felt her fingertips dance over the top of his shaft, he couldn't help but release a roar of fire from his mouth.

Mai hummed a little when the flames had stopped.

She felt him trembling beneath her, wanting to badly to be touched and stroked. Mai could understand that desire. It had been years since he'd been home, and only now was he enjoying being the prince once more.

This reunion was special to them both, and Mai wanted this moment to last forever. Zuko, returned home at last, and now able to find solace in her arms, just as she was now able to make him scream.

Her tongue darted out to lick at his skin, along his neck where his pulse was. She felt his cock jump in her hand as she licked at him. With her other hand, she raked her nails up his body before tangling her fingers in his long hair.

"Mai," he hissed.

She shushed him, and continued to play with him just beneath the waistband of his pants. Zuko couldn't help but pull his pants lower along his waist, until his cock was pulled free from the confines. He wrapped his hand around Mai's and guided her movements, knowing exactly how he wanted it to feel.

Her grip tightened, and he whimpered a little in retaliation. But when Mai's nails made contact with the sensitive skin, threatening to scratch and break him, Zuko let out a moan so uncontrolled that Mai thought that they would have have woken up the whole world.

"I like that sound," Mai whispered in Zuko's ear. "Do it again."


	6. Ignite

**Ignite**

 **Day 6: October 16**

Mai's hair was tangled as she writhed against the pillow.

Her moans were echoing off the walls as Zuko pounded into her, making her nerves ignite with a passion so intense that her entire body shuddered. With every deep thrust inside of her, her entire body jumped, followed by a deep throated moan and a plea for more.

Mai's long, sharp nails raked across his skin until the red lines broke open to reveal tiny hints of blood slowly seeping out from him. Zuko only grunted, a strange sound of both pain and pleasure, and redoubled his efforts.

Mai's legs shook hard.

Zuko bit down on her neck, and Mai nearly screamed when he did. Tears formed in her eyes, but tears of lust and happiness instead of bitter pain.

"More!" she shouted at him.

Zuko pulled back away from her, and Mai looked up at him with a frantic fire burning in her eyes. She was far from satisfied, and she wasn't ready for him to leave her yet. Zuko only gave her a devilish smile, one of fire and flames and ignited passion, and Mai felt her blood burn.

"On your knees," he told her.

Mai nodded quickly and rolled over onto her knees, lifting her ass up into the air. She felt Zuko's warm hands on her hips, pinching her ass, stroking along her back and feeling all the little indentions in her spine. He played with her for an agonizing minute before he speared his cock into her.

Mai cried out again. His hands came to rest of her hips again, and he plunged into her once more. He was frantic, fast, and Mai's moans only increased his pleasure. Mai was pushing her body back up against his, rocking with a rhythm of her own.

Zuko edged closer to her, pushing him deeper into her until he buried himself all the way to the hilt. Mai shuddered and her back arched as she clenched her muscles around him, desperate to feel his thickness spreading her walls and hitting all the right places.

A gasp escaped her.

Then another.

Then another.

Zuko moved again. His hips were nothing but a blur as he continued to fuck her from behind. His eyes kept glancing down from her round ass that he kept smacking into and back up to her long, jet black hair. As dark and lovely as her soul, he'd said to her a couple of times.

Mai felt her hair being bunched up in his hand and then tugged. She tilted her head back as he gave small little pulls to her hair before he simply knotted his fist in it and focused once more on the sight closer to his cock.

Dark claws buried themselves in his pillow as every nerve within her ignited. Everything was alive and burning with fire, and once ignited, it couldn't be stopped. It crescendoed in fiery waves as it built within her, traveling from inside of her, to her clit where it felt like white hot fire dancing on the thousands of sensitive little nerves, and then traveled all along her body.

Her voice reached its peak as she came. Her body shuddered. Her skin blushed as the blood felt like it scorched within her as it raced along her veins.

When she started to come back down, she felt like she couldn't take anymore. Zuko could sense this, see it by the way she was clutching the pillow, so he let himself come with her.

He felt the same nerves within him ignite into sparks of passion and lust and ultimate pleasure. It felt beyond heavenly; there was nothing on earth equal to this. He stilled within her, burying himself deep within her warmth, before he pulled out.

Together, the two of them collapsed down on the red and orange and golden sheets, panting hard and sweat coating their bodies. Torches cast certain slants of light across their damp skin, making it glow, illuminating them like they were pieces of the flames themselves.

Zuko could almost believe it. That he was a piece of the fire. His body felt on fire (if not completely spent) and after all, wasn't he supposed to be the Son of the Sun in the first place? At least according to the old Fire Nation myths that had been passed down.

Mai let her fingers absent-mindedly travel through her hair. She rubbed her thighs together, savoring the wetness between them and the phantom sensations of him still pistoning in and out of her.

Mai had never been a bender. No one in her family, either. But tonight, after what she and Zuko had shared together, she felt like her soul could ignite just the same as his had. The thought made her feel free, powerful. It made her feel, and that was something remarkable in and of itself.

But more than ever, she felt like she had lived her whole life a spark, and now she had finally ignited into flame.


	7. Autumn

**Autumn**

 **Day 7: October 17**

It may not have been the season of death, but it was the season of dying.

Mai slid the matchstick into the lantern, lighting the wick expertly before blowing out the charred matchstick. The flame flickered, slow and strong, and Mai set it down upon the ground as she sat next to it.

Without a word, she began to reach up her sleeves, pulling her weapons free and setting them down on the ground, admist the scarlet leaves and wavering flame. They glinted in the sunlight more than the candlelight. It was sunset. It was sunset, during autumn, in the Fire Nation.

Mai thought she had seen enough red to last her a life time.

And what wasn't red was gold, yellow, orange, bronze, amber…

She could go on and on. Every single fiery, warm shade that there was to see was spread across almost the entire nation. Almost. Mai knew that in more tropical regions, they didn't have autumns. They only had hot, hot and damp, monsoons, and mild and damp. She thought that at least they had some color variation. Not having to see red, red, red.

It was for that reason that today she wore gray. Light gray, and an sash of dark gray. And that was it. No reds or oranges or golds on her. Gray, and only gray.

Mai closed her eyes, relieved to see only a vague black in front of her sights. It beat the hell of out red, that was for certain. She let the sound of the whispering wind fill her ears, let herself hear only the rustling of all the falling leaves as they scattered.

And then a noticeable, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.

"What do you want?" Mai asked him, opening up her eyes again. Please don't let it be red, she thought. But it was futile at best. She saw red, admist brown and orange leaves.

"Just wanted to see you," Zuko responded. Mai could hear the edge to his voice.

"Why?" she asked, turning her head slightly to look at him. She saw him out of the corner of her eyes.

She was relieved to see that he didn't wear red, or dark red, or gold, or anything resembling a Fire Nation color. It was soothing to the eyes to see him dressed in greens and browns and tans. He looked like he did when he was in the Earth Kingdom, hiding in plain sight. His hair was even down. The only revealing thing was that there was no Earth Kingdom symbol anywhere in sight. And if she were to search his clothes, she would find that they were made here in their homeland, most likely.

"You look nice," Mai said quietly, turning her head back to the candle and her weapons.

"Compliments? At this time of day?" Zuko joked, a lightness in her voice that threatened to turn into laughter. "Something must be off." The leaves crunched again as he shifted, sat down, leaned up against a nearby tree to look at her.

He said nothing for a long time, only looked at her.

Mai glared back at him, but in the end she just heaved a sigh and looked down at the sais and knives and throwing darts spread before her. She ran her fingertips lightly over them, feeling the coolness of the metal, teasing the razor sharp edges with gossamer, feather touches.

She looked back at Zuko.

"Let me guess, red is such an awful color?" Zuko asked her.

Mai's lips quirked into an almost-smile. "Yeah, it is," she agreed. She shifted her legs underneath her to get more comfortable. "Not as horrible as orange, but still up there in awful colors."

"I can imagine," Zuko replied. He smiled and leaned forward again, until his lips were brushing up against Mai's. As Mai closed her eyes, leaning into kiss him, all she saw was black.

Their kiss deepened, until they were both laying within the dead leaves, listening to them crunch and rustle beneath them as they kissed. Mai didn't open her eyes the entire time. It was only when Zuko's foot kicked up against her knives that they stopped, and Mai was forced to open her eyes.

She saw that they'd nearly kicked over the lantern, too.

Mai blew out the flame, not wanting to set anything on fire. It'd only add to the nauseating color palette.

"Mai," Zuko said softly, and wiped the ground next to him clean of leaves.

With a glum sigh, she sat down on the vacant ground, closing her eyes again and shutting out the image of her knives bathed in red and gold. She felt Zuko wrap his arms around her, and kiss her on her cheek.

That made her happier than autumn ever would.


End file.
